Pub. 5 2010-2011 Issue 2

July/August 2010 25 Extraordinary Service for Extraordinary Members. Reach Leggett by e-mail at kleggett@aba.com. Read Leggett’s blog at http://creditunionwatch.blogspot.com . This would suggest that the true number of credit union members is more likely in the range of 50 million to 60million, not the 90million reported by the NCUA. Z T HE NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION (NCUA) reported that federally insured credit unions had 90 million members. This number is arrived at by aggregating the total number of members of each credit union. However, this number appears to be an overestimate. The Credit Union Journal on Jan. 24, 2008, reported that JerryMarsh, a credit union consultant, said the actual number of credit union members is closer to 30 million, because “the so-called memberships that credit unions count represent duplicates, people who have member- ships in two or three or more credit unions.” Jerry Marsh’s estimate may be at the lower end of the range, but could accurately reflect the number of individuals who identify a credit union as their primary financial institution. Data from a 2004 Filene Study, “Who Uses Credit Unions?,” found that 36 percent of households use credit unions—8 percent of households only use a credit union, 12 percent primarily use a credit union, and 16 percent use a credit union but their primary relationship is with a bank. This would equate to about 42 million households using a credit union. I suspect that the average number of householdmem- bers using a credit union is below two, maybe something between 1.25 and 1.5 household members. But this is strictly a guess, as I have not seen such a statistic. credit union watch: keeping an eye on the credit union scene The 90 Million Myth Keith Leggett, Senior Economist, American Bankers Association What is the true number of credit union members in the United States?